Americanah centers around two people and their story of love, race, immigration and the relationships that come next. Ifemelu and Obinze are from Nigeria and we follow their lives as they move away and face highs and lows. The challenges they are presented with make this a gripping, funny, fearless, honest read.
Ifemelu and Obinze meet as teenagers and they quickly fall for each other. People are leaving Nigeria if they can because of how difficult the military dictatorship is making life. Ifemelu, outspoken, bold, confident, heads to America for college. Obinze, the sincere, smart, son of a professor, would have loved to meet her there but post 9/11 makes it difficult and he ends up in London.
I loved how we get their whole immigration story and how with each
new person and experience, they learned about and changed their perception of America, London, newly democratic Nigeria and themselves. I think Obinze's point of view was so important because we get to see
the rough side of immigration. How even though you build this place up in your
head, getting to America is not easy and then getting the visa to England did
not mean it was going to make things easier over there. Undocumented life is
something that doesn't get highlighted as much and I could read all the
stories, fiction and non-fiction, about it. Obinze talks about the many attempts and fails at trying to get papers via marriage. Obinze's love of America, because of all the books he'd read was my favorite. I really enjoyed how honest he
is, with Ifemelu and how he views the world. I was anxiously waiting for their
reunion since they both did love each other and with them both having gone
through so much growth apart.
Ifemelu's story starts with her heading to a salon because she decided that she's going back to Nigeria and that salon setting was so important to read. The way hair is discussed in this book is great because the natural hair movement is a big deal and not as discussed in literary fiction. Getting to read her hair journey and how she felt when she stopped using all the chemicals in her hair was heartbreaking. Being of Carribean background and having two aunts that are hairstylists, I have grown up with hair being a big deal and this idea of 'pelo malo' and 'pelo bueno.' It's bullshit because your hair is good because it's your hair not because it's straight instead of curly and all the other aspects of that type of thinking. Anyways, Ifemelu has been sitting in this chair getting her hair done for hours while we're getting her backstory and point of view, so we get to see the difference between the way Ifemelu viewed America and the hairstylists did. At first, it was the very judgmental air of 'I'm better than you because I know more' but it showed how the experiences Ifemelu went through and documented in her blog about being a non-American Black really changed her view of the world. Her hairstylist Aisha opens up about the difficulty of getting citizenship and that citizenship struggle is a big difference between Ifemelu and her because Ifemelu was able to get hers because one of her first boyfriends, a white man, was able to use his privilege to easily find her a job that paid for her green card process.
Ifemelu's struggles with getting a job while in college was so touching and realistic and I think as she commented on race, class and the different experiences on her blog, the reader gets to see how even though she was not African-American, she was still Black and therefore, she got to learn about all types of injustice that happen in this country from her unique lens. I think an important part of the story and her move and undergrad life was showing how difficult it can be to get a job and take care of yourself and how you can totally fall into a deep depression. Her nephew Dike also having to deal with his own issues with it as well highlighted how immigrant parents don't know how to deal with mental illness. They think that since we're in America and they left a third world country for you to have everything that there's no way you could be sad. The phrase "caged in the airlessness of their parents' immigrant aspirations" was everything because those big dreams can be so suffocating. When you begin to learn about yourself away from your parents, as Ifemelu does, you realize how much more difficult the world is and how different it is for every generation. Oh man, so much to unpack there but yeah showing the lows and highs of both Obinze and Ifemelu's journey was something I appreciated so much.
By going back to Nigeria, you get to see how even though she doesn't believe she changed, Ifemelu really had. This story being so character-driven and not necessarily plot-driven really added to the connection I made to Ifemelu. Especially since it's framed as present-day Ifemelu returning home after a decade in America and flashbacks with some bits from Obinze, you get to see how passionate she was about being open with her blog readers about her experiences. I think the end of this story made me just ponder about the way we discuss love and race in America and how we tend to skirt around these issues. Obinze forces Ifemelu to confront her feelings and just be open with him and with herself and I think that we all should take a hint from him. It's easy to say be unafraid and speak about how you feel but to see someone do it was wonderful and we should aspire to do it more person to person and not just online. As a person of color, I'm always thinking about and discussing race but I think people are quick to discuss their oppression and afraid to talk about their biases and privilege. Ifemelu's blog shows how non-Americans don't think about race and class as much as Americans do and I've had many discussions with my own mom about the affect of race and class since it's just something that was not discussed when she was growing up. It's not to say that these discussions aren't happening in other countries but it just always reminds me that it's necessary to be vocal, no matter what.
So yes, let me know if you've read Americanah. What are your favorite parts and least favorite, if any? Let's discuss all the themes!
Ifemelu's struggles with getting a job while in college was so touching and realistic and I think as she commented on race, class and the different experiences on her blog, the reader gets to see how even though she was not African-American, she was still Black and therefore, she got to learn about all types of injustice that happen in this country from her unique lens. I think an important part of the story and her move and undergrad life was showing how difficult it can be to get a job and take care of yourself and how you can totally fall into a deep depression. Her nephew Dike also having to deal with his own issues with it as well highlighted how immigrant parents don't know how to deal with mental illness. They think that since we're in America and they left a third world country for you to have everything that there's no way you could be sad. The phrase "caged in the airlessness of their parents' immigrant aspirations" was everything because those big dreams can be so suffocating. When you begin to learn about yourself away from your parents, as Ifemelu does, you realize how much more difficult the world is and how different it is for every generation. Oh man, so much to unpack there but yeah showing the lows and highs of both Obinze and Ifemelu's journey was something I appreciated so much.
By going back to Nigeria, you get to see how even though she doesn't believe she changed, Ifemelu really had. This story being so character-driven and not necessarily plot-driven really added to the connection I made to Ifemelu. Especially since it's framed as present-day Ifemelu returning home after a decade in America and flashbacks with some bits from Obinze, you get to see how passionate she was about being open with her blog readers about her experiences. I think the end of this story made me just ponder about the way we discuss love and race in America and how we tend to skirt around these issues. Obinze forces Ifemelu to confront her feelings and just be open with him and with herself and I think that we all should take a hint from him. It's easy to say be unafraid and speak about how you feel but to see someone do it was wonderful and we should aspire to do it more person to person and not just online. As a person of color, I'm always thinking about and discussing race but I think people are quick to discuss their oppression and afraid to talk about their biases and privilege. Ifemelu's blog shows how non-Americans don't think about race and class as much as Americans do and I've had many discussions with my own mom about the affect of race and class since it's just something that was not discussed when she was growing up. It's not to say that these discussions aren't happening in other countries but it just always reminds me that it's necessary to be vocal, no matter what.
So yes, let me know if you've read Americanah. What are your favorite parts and least favorite, if any? Let's discuss all the themes!
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